Total Immersion
by ForestFireSong
Summary: Kiku introduces Arthur to a brand new MMORPG called Hetaquest, which uses new immersive technology so impressive even Arthur can't help but buy it. By doing so, he becomes acquainted with his fellow gamer Alfred, and through a series of campaigns and quests finds himself falling for the American's (annoying) charms. Or: how Arthur's life was effectively ruined by a video game.


**A/N: How long has it been since I've posted...? Quite awhile, to say the least. But I figured I might as well post this fic, which I wrote for blackroseauthoress as part of the USUK Secret Santa 2015 on tumblr! One of her requests was some video game USUK, so this is what I came up with. I may start posting regularly again, who knows, but for now, have some fluff!  
**

 **(the feeling I'm trying to evoke here is a cross between Legend of Zelda and Sword Art Online, and of course Hetalia Fantasia... hopefully it worked haha)**

* * *

Once again, Arthur had Kiku both to thank and to blame for his current situation.

It had all started when he showed Arthur one of his new video games, a MMORPG using a new type of immersive technology in the form of a headset that obscured the eyes and covered the ears as headphones would, and emitted waves that would make it seem as though the wearer was really inside a virtual reality. It was highly advanced technology and so far was only used for certain video games that were produced by the same company that manufactured the headset. Arthur knew that it had to be quite expensive, but Kiku was such an avid gamer that he thought nothing of dropping several weeks' rent and food bills on something like this and that sentiment, according to the various message boards across the internet, was shared by the vast majority of the gamer community.

Arthur had been even more surprised by the fact that Kiku had offered to let him try it, since he was barely a gamer at all, the closest thing being either Flappy Bird on his phone or when Peter forced him to play Mario Kart.

"Well if it were, say, Feli, I'd probably be a bit more careful, but…" Kiku held the headset out to Arthur. "It truly is an amazing experience, so I don't mind sharing it with you."

And so Arthur had placed the headset onto his head and over his eyes, booted up the game (titled "Hetaquest") and had ended up in the world of Hetalia.

Kiku guided him through setting up an account and creating his avatar, which was done by taking a photo of Arthur, converting it to the vaguely anime-like style of the game, and allowing him to modify it to his specifications.

And just like that, Arthur had an account in Hetaquest and, as he would soon discover, a new obsession.

Choosing his starting class as a mage, he began his journey by running around in the main town and exploring all of the many armories, taverns, and guilds. The graphics weren't just amazing, they were hypnotizing; paired with the faint music coming in through the headset, the experience was immersive to the point where Arthur felt like he truly was in the world of Hetaquest. He could suddenly see why Kiku was willing to fork over a portion of his life's savings for this, and lapsed into concentrative silence as he bounded about Main Street. The movements of the avatar were not actually dictated by real-life movements, but by his own thought processes, which meant that Arthur had to put his full attention on the game at all times. It was probably because of this that Kiku retreated to his DS, telling Arthur that he would let him "enjoy the experience".

To say he enjoyed it might've been a bit of an understatement. By the time the sun went down he had leveled up several times, fought his first monster, been killed by his first monster, and had bought a new staff with the money gained from smashing random stones and pots while running through the field a few paces outside of town.

"I'm glad you liked it!" Kiku said once Arthur took the headset off, feeling sheepish for having spent most of his time playing and not talking to Kiku. "Do you think you might want to buy one yourself?'

"I'll consider it."

He had already made his decision.

* * *

So that was the story of how Arthur had blown almost half of his meager savings on a video game, something he had vowed to never do. Books? Certainly. Expensive tea? He did that regularly. But a video game? He had always considered that Kiku's domain, and definitely nothing _he_ would do.

Well, he had been proved majorly wrong.

Coming home from work (he was an English professor at a local college who worked part time jobs on the side) it was actually relaxing to have something to take his mind off of grading papers and paying rent and how much he wanted to smash Francis's face in for sending him inappropriate texts in the middle of a meeting. All he had to do was put on his headset and enter a whole different world.

The Hetaquest world adjusted its in-game graphics to real time depending on which server you were on. Logging into the account he had made at Kiku's and entering the city-wide server for London, Arthur arrived in the main town where it was early evening and the sun was just setting. From the town square he could see streaks of orange and red staining the sky just beyond the thatched roofs, and purple clouds started to appear as night fell. The lampposts hanging around the town began to light; however, despite darkness quickly taking over the town, there were still plenty of players out and about. Except for even the earliest hours of the morning, the town was always bustling.

Arthur had spoken to a few people before through the in-game chat system, but he hadn't added anyone as a friend or joined a guild yet, because of his lack of experience and overall low level. Armed with his new staff (he had decided to use earth magic) he headed to the glowing blue portal that would take him out of the town and into the surrounding woods, dungeons, and other areas that were currently accessible to him.

Arthur leaped into the portal and reappeared in the middle of the shadowy field that he had first explored at Kiku's. There were numerous quests that he could embark on, and an ever-growing world that had new parts added day by day, but at the moment he didn't think he could handle more than a couple enemies at a time. Instead, Arthur figured he'd head into the tall grass to grind.

Something was different this time, however; the small, birdlike creatures he'd fought before, along with worms and various other monsters resembling bugs, were gone. Instead, the field was eerily quiet and void of any life, including other players.

"Has everyone gone to bed…?" Arthur muttered. It wasn't even that late. He was getting a foreboding feeling and was about to head back to the town, to find a different dungeon to grind in, when he was suddenly attacked from behind.

Attacks didn't necessarily cause pain, but they did create a jarring sensation in the waves emitting from the headset that could be quite disorienting. Arthur's avatar pitched forward, and while he quickly regained his balance, he found himself faced with shadow-like… things.

They were essentially blobs of darkness with two bright eyes and a jagged smile glowing like the inside of the furnace. Arthur hurriedly charged up a spell and cast it, causing vines to sprout from the ground and constrict the creatures briefly. However, it did barely any damage while just a single attack from the shadowy creatures had taken him down quite a few points.

 _This isn't good…_

He desperately tried to attack the creatures once more, but his efforts proved futile and before he knew it, Arthur had lost all of his HP and respawned in the town.

God _damnit._

Like taking damage, dying wasn't painful, but it was annoying. You lost half of your money and items, excluding whatever you had equipped, and were taken to the nearest town. Arthur's screen blacked momentarily and then there he was, standing in the town square. Literally, back to square one.

"Haha, dude, you got wrecked by those shadow elementals didn't you?" Arthur looked over to where he heard someone talking to him, his voice coming in over his headset. A young man was walking over to him from the main tavern, his outfit looking to be that of a warrior's, with half his chest exposed and a fur draped over one shoulder. Strangely enough, he had a sword hanging from his waist, rather than the axe one would expect of a warrior.

"Shadow elementals?" Arthur recalled the dark creatures that had pounced on him earlier. That seemed to be a fitting name. He felt hot embarrassment sweep over him as he thought about how easily he'd been defeated by the creatures, and stiffly nodded. "Yes, I suppose that's what those were."

"Man," the other man said, shaking his head and smiling slightly. He had blond hair with a single flyaway strand and bright blue eyes that seemed to twinkle in the dim light. "Taking on all of them by yourself? And a low level? That might not have been the best idea."

"Well–!" Arthur sputtered, trying to find an excuse. "I didn't know they'd be out there! I was expecting easier monsters, like before! Not… whatever those were."

"You don't read the newsletter? They're a new feature that come out at certain times of night. Most people were avoiding them, since they're sorta hard to beat, but…" the man leaned in, as though sharing a secret. "…I know a way to defeat them!"

"Oh, really." Arthur could see that this man was at a higher level than him, but not by much. "Would you care to enlighten me, then?"

"There's a certain type of bomb that emits light that you can get from one of those bomb shops!" the man said, gesturing down the street. "You have to complete a quest to unlock it, though. You need a party of three or more though, and it's just me and my brother right now… hey! You could come with us!"

"Well…" Arthur crossed his arms, feeling embarrassed again. "I'm not the highest level. I'm not sure you'd want me."

He waved his hand dismissively. "It shouldn't be a hard dungeon! And you've got me and Mattie to protect you! Oh– Mattie's my brother. His full name's Matthew. And I'm Alfred!"

"Arthur." he extended his hand to shake, which Alfred did so with vigor. Even though Alfred couldn't actually feel the gesture, mentally he felt as though Alfred was putting all of his (rather impressive) strength behind the handshake. Already he could tell that Alfred was the kind of person who went overboard with everything. "Would you really want me to join your party?"

"Yeah, of course! You'll level up in no time. Also– I really want those bombs."

"Well, if you say so, then… fine."

And so Arthur registered his first friend, and with promises of meeting tomorrow, or whenever the other was available, he logged off with a warm feeling his chest that wouldn't go away no matter how hard he tried to suppress it.

* * *

From that point on Arthur settled into a routine where he, Alfred, and Alfred's brother Matthew would regularly meet up and go on quests and into dungeons together. The three of them made a formidable team, as it turned out, and Arthur leveled up quickly to the point where he was almost on even ground with the two of them. They even considered creating their own guild, which Alfred opted to call "The Guild of Amazing Heroes", which Arthur shot down immediately. In the end they decided against it, at least until they had garnered more party members.

However, the three of them made a good enough team where they raked in plenty of gold and rare items, and even made a name for themselves throughout the world of Hetaquest. Arthur found himself looking forward more and more to coming home and logging in, and while part of him still thought video games could be a waste of time, the other part of him found them a much-needed and welcomed escape from the harsh realities of life.

Also, Alfred and Matthew turned out to be good friends to have. Matthew proved himself to be the more sensible and polite of the two brothers, and although he was remarkably quiet, he also occasionally showed a snarky side, usually in response to something Alfred had done.

Alfred, for his part, often filled the silence left by Matthew in the chat with incessant chatter. His loudness and frankly overbearing personality had him and Arthur get into many a fight; however, no matter how much they bickered over petty things, when it came to actual combat they surprisingly worked quite well together.

Matthew was an ice mage and usually soloed against monsters, since he he was actually quite powerful. This left Arthur and Alfred to team up against enemies, Arthur with his earth magic and Alfred with his sword (which Alfred had explained was the result of both special modifications and hacking, since he wanted the warrior class but the sword weapon type, since that was more "heroic"). As it turned out, the two of them had a unique rhythm with each other that made clearing dungeons much easier. Alfred would go on the offensive, mowing down anything in their way, while Arthur would cover and demolish anything left behind.

Somehow, Arthur could feel that rhythm extending to real life too. Conversations with Alfred flowed easily, even if it was just a string of insults to each other, and Arthur felt a strange relaxation in his chest whenever he saw Alfred's name blinking as an indication that he was online. Forging meaningful relationships with strangers over the Internet was another thing Arthur had scoffed at; but once again this game was proving him wrong, and to be honest, he'd never been happier to be wrong in his life.

Aside from talking in game, they also exchanged other forms of communication, a feat which Arthur regretted once Alfred started texting him random messages in full caps lock and memes, which were almost more annoying than Francis's random dick pics.

During one such occasion, Arthur was just finishing up grading papers, while Francis loitered around his desk, spewing nonsense as usual. It had become a form of white noise that actually helped Arthur concentrate at this point, so accustomed had he become to blocking it out.

"Ooh, who is that, mon cher?" Francis questioned, peering over Arthur's shoulder. He tried to stuff the phone away, but it was too late, and the Frenchman had already snatched it from his grasp.

Staring appreciatively at Alfred's contact photo (a selfie he had sent Arthur; otherwise, he would've used an image of a bald eagle holding a Big Mac in its claws, since he believed that captured Alfred's essence as well) Francis let out a whistle. "My, he is handsome. Don't tell you two are–?"

"Give that back," Arthur snapped, plucking the phone from Francis's grasp. "And for your information, we're not. Whatever it was you were implying, that is."

Francis was right; Alfred actually was quite attractive to the point where Arthur had been slightly taken aback. Perhaps the stereotypes about gamers had gotten to his head, but he hadn't expected Alfred to matches in game avatar so closely, right down to the golden hair and bright blue eyes.

Less than a stereotypical gamer, he was more a stereotypical American hunk. And it frustrated Arthur to no end.

Francis glanced at the message on the screen and sighed. "Oh, is he a friend you made from playing that online video game? What a shame that he wastes his time on that, just like you do."

"Shut up frog, it's called a hobby and you could certainly benefit from having one– and no, getting your advances rejected by the entire human populace doesn't count."

Francis bristled. "At least I've seen a fellow human naked in the past month. When was the last time you saw that– when you and Alistair used to bathe together? And there's no point trying it with this one, Internet relationships never work out."

"I never implied that I wanted a relationship with Alfred."

"Oh but Arthur dear, I can _tell._ You always wind up falling for those more attractive than you. Like me, for instance."

"Oh, shut up." Arthur shoved him off the edge of his desk, glaring at Francis irritably. "Next time I'm locking my door so you can't get in; I've had enough of your nonsense."

Francis merely shrugged and left the room, calling behind him a flurry of insults and endearments that made Arthur grit his teeth and roll his eyes. One of his oldest friends, and he didn't even know how they had lasted that long.

Now left in peace and quiet and finished with his grading, Arthur could finally check the text he had received from Alfred.

 _hey dude, there's a new event today that leads to a new area and probably some really cool items! hmu when you're done with work and we can go check it out_

Arthur shook his head at Alfred's lack of capitalization and minor text talk. At least his spelling was okay. As an English professor, he really should be more harsh, regardless of how many times Alfred called him a grammar Nazi. However, he didn't feel even a shred of annoyance, and as he typed out a message belittling Alfred's grammar, he did it out of habit than animosity.

He really shouldn't be so forgiving, but with Alfred, Arthur couldn't stop himself.

And as he packed up his papers and departed from his office, he couldn't stop himself from feeling the briefest spark of of excitement as well.

* * *

Upon logging in, Alfred immediately greeted Arthur with a 'Hey, old man!' that made Arthur forget his forgiving nature almost immediately. At 25 years old he didn't consider himself that old, although maybe too much so for video games that were probably supposed to be played by teenagers.

"Bugger off," he replied, before taking a glance at their surroundings. "Where's Matthew today?"

"Couldn't come." Alfred replied. "He said he had work but he's been acting mysterious lately so…" he suddenly grinned. "I think he has a boyfriend or something."

"Oh really?" Arthur found himself smiling as well. He wouldn't tease Matthew about it, since he was certain that Alfred had that covered, but he had to admit he was curious and would watch him in the chat later to find out more information.

"Yeah, I can tell something's been off. In a good way, I mean." Alfred glanced over at Arthur. "Do you have a girlfriend? Or boyfriend, or whatever?"

Arthur was a bit taken aback by the question, which he had not been expecting at all. As long as they been talking, the topic of dating or sexuality had never come up. Arthur wasn't entirely sure how to respond now. He had dated, briefly, when he was younger, but he had never been entirely serious and most of the dates had ended without him feeling much at all. The fact that he had even once dated Francis, if only for a short while, was proof enough of his multiple bad choices made while dating. As it stood, the only person he had actually felt strong feelings for in a while was….

Alfred. Damn, he hated it when Francis was right about things.

"Boyfriend is more of the way I swing," Arthur said, and it might've been his imagination, but he could've sworn Alfred perked up, just a little bit. Maybe it was just a glitch in the graphics, but the Hetaquest technology typically mirrored the players' emotions very closely.

"Me too! Well, bisexual, but you know…."

"Yes, well, I'm not dating anyone right now. I haven't in awhile." Arthur trailed off hesitantly, then began again. "What about you?"

"Me? Nah, not right now."

"Really? I would think you have people all over you." Arthur cursed mentally as soon as he said it, but the damage was done. Alfred smiled in a way that was more akin to a smirk.

"Like what you see, Iggy?"

"Of course not. And don't call me that." Arthur turned his head away. To believe that he was a grown adult and engaging in these antics… he blamed Kiku. Entirely. And himself, for falling prey to Alfred's charms. "Shouldn't we be heading on to that event?"

"Ohh yeah!" His attention seemingly diverted, Alfred went to his mail and pulled up the newsletter detailing the event. "We can join anytime but it ends sometime tomorrow morning so we should really get going."

"Not a very large window, is it?"

"Nope, but this isn't a big event either. Just a new area and a couple of rare items. They'll start doing bigger ones once they've got the hang of it."

"Then let's go. We got that very nice defense amulet in the last dungeon, I'd like something like that to raise my stats."

"You could just wear armor, you know." Alfred said as they set off across the plain. The weather was nice today, as it usually was (although they had witnessed their fair share of rainy days, and snow was imminent in the holiday season) and the sunlight filtered gently through the grass. It was the epitome of a warm fall day, even though Arthur couldn't actually feel the heat. Instead he just felt a feeling of intense serenity as he and Alfred made their way through the grass and hills to their destination, talking at some points and lapsing into comfortable silence at others. That, Arthur thought, was the greatest accomplishment of the immersive technology; creating a peaceful atmosphere so realistic he felt himself relax, as though he and Alfred were _actually_ taking a walk together in reality.

Then again, this world was so real that they essentially were.

* * *

As it turned out, the event was a dungeon crawl through a new area that had the players collecting several different colored crystals and navigating their way to the dungeon's center, where they would activate an event tile that would lead to a boss, and of course, the all important treasure.

Parties were recommended to stay on the small side, so Arthur and Alfred made the perfect team. Upon activating the quest, a new portal appeared and they warped to the dungeon, which would hopefully only have levels before the boss fight.

Arthur was not prepared, hover, for the breathtaking beauty of the area. It was a cave decorated with millions of luminescent crystals, dotting the ceilings and the floors and encrusting the walls in certain places. They gave off a light that lit up the entire cave so that lantern wasn't necessary; instead, the whole area was illuminated by a pale blue glow making it very easy to find their way.

The rest of the cave was pebbly underfoot and lined with streams of icy water that frothed against the banks and made the pathways near to them dark and slippery. Clusters of crystals lay in the water, emitting their strange light that made it gleam turquoise and creating ghostly dancing images on the walls behind them. Alfred and Arthur made their way around boulders and clusters on the ground, and Arthur could ask almost feel the cool dampness in the air.

Alfred held his sword at the ready for any creatures that may appear from the darkness, while Arthur readied his staff and spell books. Typically earth magic allowed him to take control of any living things in his environment; however, there were no plants or anything of the sort in the cave, so Arthur would have to rely on casting his own spells and conjuring his own magics to fight.

Summoning up the message that contained the events instructions, Arthur studied the list of crystals they were supposed to find. "These are probably deeper within the cave. We need to smash rocks and other things to find them…let's go."

"All right," Alfred said cheerfully, and the two of them began to traverse the hallways. As it turned out, the creatures that inhabited the cave were composed of the same beautiful crystals that Arthur had been admiring, but with heavy rock appendages for smashing their faces in. Thankfully, Arthur's magic could easily shatter them to bits, while Alfred's sword kept them at bay for the time being.

While they searched for the crystals and fought off the crystal creatures, Arthur couldn't help but flash back to his and Alfred's conversation earlier. Though he didn't want to admit it, not even to himself, it was true that Alfred had sparked a feeling in him that was more than platonic. There was something endearing in his annoying laughs and text messages in the middling the day; something irresistible about the way he understood Arthur and how well their movements flowed together. This game didn't only instill a peace of mind in Arthur; it gave him something to look forward to, or more accurately, someone. With only a few video chats and multiple text messages and hours and hours of talking in-game, Arthur had managed to foster a relationship that was somehow as important to him as any that he had in real life. He didn't know if he would ever jeopardize their current relationship by telling Alfred, but he couldn't deny that the feelings were there.

"Dude, we're here!" Alfred gestured up ahead at a massive door with a glowing blue inscription. It had previously been encased in a massive cover of crystals, but through several minutes of puzzle solving it had shattered and given them a free path to the final room.

He pushed on the door, which opens with a massive creak and whoosh of air that sent Arthur's robe flying back. Alfred started to walk in, with Arthur in tow behind him.

"I–" Arthur stopped in his tracks, the speech leaving his mouth as they entered the final room. The rest of the dungeon had resembled a cave nicely, with narrow passageways and small rooms; this room threw all of that out the window. It was massive and incredibly spacious, the ceiling soaring so far above them Arthur could barely see where it ended. The crystal clusters, which had been small before, we're now wider and taller than both of them, their surfaces so smooth Arthur could use them as mirrors. However, just like the small ones, they gave off a light, in this case large enough to look like a little bonfire inside if the crystal. They were situated in clusters dispersed around the room, forming a ring at its center. In the middle of this central group of crystals was a large pool, fed by a waterfall coming from somewhere miles and miles above them, the water appearing from seemingly nowhere as it splashed into the pool, scattering water droplets everywhere. The sound echoed in the massive room, so it was the only thing Arthur heard aside from his and Alfred's own breathing.

"You think this is it?" Alfred said, retrieving the crystals they had been collecting from his inventory.

"Yes, it must be. I'd assume that the middle of the waterfall is the event tile." Arthur grimaced. "I hope you're ready to get wet…"

"Wait. Before you do anything, I, um." Arthur glanced over to Alfred, who was staring at him intently, he expression uncharacteristically nervous. "I have something I need to tell you."

"Yes?" Arthur felt his own anxiety rising in his chest; the change in atmosphere was sudden and rather worrying.

Alfred sucked in a deep breath. "So I, uh, wasn't sure if I should say anything but after what we talked about today I couldn't stop thinking….anyway. So, um. Arthur. I like you. Like not in the platonic way. I don't blame you if you're weirded out or anything but I thought I should tell you, so I don't have to feel like I'm lying to you. And since we've never actually met….yeah. Sorry."

"…..what?"

"Do _not_ make me repeat all that."

"No, I heard you, it's just…." Arthur began to laugh. Normally he would only let out scathing chuckles, so he couldn't blame Alfred for staring at him, dumbfounded, as his loud laughs echoed in the cave. "I feel the same but I never would've imagined, in a thousand years, that it would be reciprocated…." he quieted his laughing, staring Alfred directly in the eyes. "I never thought I should be so lucky."

"Seriously? Me neither!" Alfred began laughing as well, and Arthur listened to it come in over the headset, a warm feeling blooming in his chest. Was a prank being pulled on him? Was this seriously happening? It was bordering on ludicrous.

"I thought since we'd never met in real life, you wouldn't be ok with it…. Even when you talk to someone every day, most people like a relationship to be tangible, you know?" Alfred shook his head.

"We video chatted, so I knew you weren't some 50 year-old pervert. True, we haven't known each other _that_ long, but…" Arthur smiled. "I just didn't think it was possible. For feelings to be mutual, I mean."

"You said you'd dated before though?"

"Yes, but the feelings weren't as…potent."

Alfred grinned. "You flatter me."

"Don't get a big head now." Arthur sniffs. "Although I suppose that's unavoidable at this point…"

"Here you say that you like me, but you still insult me so!" Alfred shook his head. "Well I guess I knew I was getting into that sort of coldness when I confessed."

"Yes, you knew exactly what you were getting into. Although I will say I'm glad you took the initiative, I probably never would've said a word."

"You're welcome, then." Alfred said, and for that moment the two of them quieted, standing next to each other and watching the waterfall. Arthur watched the lights dance on Alfred's face, reminiscent of the reflections on the bottom of a swimming pool. His inner high schooler told him to reach out and take Alfred's hand, but even now he felt too shy for that.

Finally Alfred spoke up. "Well, before we talk any more, should we take on the boss?"

"Of course. I came here for gold, after all." _But I will come out with something much better._

"Ok then, let's go!" Alfred started forward, but then stopped and looked back to Arthur. "But just so you know… I won't kiss you yet. Not until we meet in real life."

Arthur raised an eyebrow. "You might be waiting awhile then."

"I'll wait however long it takes." Alfred gestured dramatically, winking at Arthur. He rolled his eyes. He didn't sign up to date another Francis, but it looked like there were some mannerisms he would always have to deal with.

"If you say so. Now, let's go."

This time, they held hands.


End file.
